Creating and offering content for your business requires you to have a refined process in place if you’re going to stay creative, efficient and produce relevant information that won’t get you into legal trouble. Utilizing content approval workflows allows you to get this task done as fast and timely as possible, all while, according to Contentful, making sure that “only approved content gets published.” When you’re implementing this process in your business, it’s essential to make sure it’s both standardized and optimized.
Optimizing and Refining the Approval Process
Maximizing your content approval workflows can be done by spotlighting each task and placing specific individuals in charge of carrying them out. While this will vary depending on the size of your business, the components include the following:
- Requesting and standardizing content
- Implementing SEO and creating the content for review
- Publishing and distribution
Specific members of your business should complete each task in the process. Clearly defining these roles and labeling them will help each person finish each portion of a project efficiently and pass it along to the next contributor. Weeding out any unnecessary tasks or contributors will help streamline your content approval workflows
Requesting and Standardizing Content
Whether your content requests come from a marketing team, leadership or some other department, it’s essential to pass it through a filter that helps standardize each piece that’s written. You should understand your content’s purpose and goal and make sure each request helps fulfill those goals. Staying consistent by following the same tone, grammar, and use of language will also make it easier to portray your brand’s message and identity. Passing the topics through a legal filter is also recommended to stay out of trouble.
Implementing SEO and Creating the Content
When a content request is made, it should pass through an expert who is assigned with the task of implementing SEO. They can make sure to utilize the correct keywords and provide a focus for each piece. Moving from an SEO technician to a writer should be clearly defined by the strategy you’re using to streamline your content approval workflows. This helps pass content to the writing stage and makes it easier to complete each task even quicker. It then goes to an editor to see if any changes need to be made. Once they are completed, it’s passed back to the editor for a final review. Finishing the writing stage means it’s time for your graphic designers to get to work. They’ll need to add relevant visuals to break up the content.
Publishing and Distribution
Once your content is approved, it can be published and distributed using the methods defined by your strategy. Setting up clear guidelines can get your content to this stage more efficiently and faster. It can also help to invest in technologies that automate your workflow.
Automating the Process
Utilizing software designed to help streamline this process should help provide even smoother management of your workflow. Implementing this type of technology can be highly beneficial when you’ve got several pieces of content flowing out daily. Having the right infrastructure in place to automate the process can be powerful.
Using clear guidelines for your workflow should help improve accountability, the quality of your content, and the speed in which it gets produced.